Saudi regime begins first steps of normalization with Assad regime

A delegation of the Syrian regime participated in a meeting of the Arab Journalists Union in the capital, Riyadh, so that it is the first time that the kingdom has received a figure affiliated with the regime of Bashar al-Assad in public.

The “Syrian Journalists Union”, which is loyal to the Assad regime, announced the participation of the President of the Federation, Musa Abdel Nour, in the General Secretariat meetings of the Arab Journalists Union in Riyadh, which started last Tuesday.

In 2012, Riyadh decided, as part of an Arab and Gulf decision, to close its embassy in Damascus and expel the Syrian ambassador, and also supported the Free Syrian Army, and announced its refusal to keep Assad in power, before retracting this demand in the past two years, and talking about the need to achieve a political settlement.

The Federation of Journalists published on its official page on “Facebook” a picture of the meeting, in which the President of Abdel-Nour appears sitting next to a number of Arab attendees.

The appearance of a calculated official in the regime raises questions about the approaching return of diplomatic relations between the Assad regime and the Kingdom.

The newspaper, “Al-Watan”, which is close to the Syrian regime, previously quoted a source who refused to reveal his identity, as saying, “The opening of the Saudi embassy in Damascus is not far away.”

While the Saudi Foreign Ministry denied more than once its intention to open its closed embassy in Damascus since March 2012, in light of the normalization of some Gulf countries for their relationship with the Assad regime.

The official news agency, SPA, said in January 2019 that “what was reported by some websites is attributed to His Excellency the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Dr. Ibrahim Al-Assaf, regarding the opening of the Kingdom’s embassy in the Syrian capital, Damascus.” And in detail.”

For his part, Minister of State for Foreign Affairs Adel Al-Jubeir confirmed last March that there was no change in his country’s position regarding the opening of the embassy in Damascus.

In the context of the normalization of relations between the Emirates and Bahrain with the Assad regime, Saudi Arabia was not the same in the past period, as it kept the door closed in public.

However, news spoke in the past months that the Omani Foreign Minister, Yusuf bin Alawi, when he went to Damascus and met the head of the regime, Bashar Al-Assad, carried a message from Saudi Arabia to the regime.

And before that, Sputnik said that the Russian special envoy to Syria Alexander Lavrentev during his visit to Damascus about three months ago carried a message from Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman to Bashar al-Assad, and it was said at the time that the atmosphere was positive.

In December 2018, the UAE reopened its embassy in Damascus, which angered international and civil actors.

And at the end of 2018, Arab regimes such as Sudan, Egypt and Iraq began to normalize publicly with the Assad regime, which is heavily backed by Russia and Iran following the losses incurred by the opposition factions on the ground.